sought after lady

This is Themina. I found her hanging out on Dave's nightstand.

This is the only doll my girls have. They have lots of babies, but no dolls. Themina made her way into the house last Christmas via her cousin Tristan and has been well loved ever since

She's a Snap-N-Go girl. Her outfits snap on and off for easy changes. The clothes have found there way into the bottom of some toy basket in the house never to be found again. Thankfully, her makers decided not to leave her naked and exposed for all the world to see.

Her popularity is based solely on who has her at the moment. If Eloise is washing her hair (which she often does at bath time) than Lily for sure wants to play with her. If Lily is trying to snap on her hard-to-find clothes, than Eloise snatches her out of Lily's hand bringing forth a blood curdling scream and lots of broad swipes from Lily. And we all know what follows...meltdowns.

Today she stands alone. Traded in for Mickey hands, puzzles, and princess dresses. She's currently staring at me as I write this. I'm half wondering if she's going to make her way to the bottom of a toy box or if the girls will renew their interest in her again. Should I move her or wait to see who grabs her first?

I think I'll wait. The house is much quieter that way.

updating

We are surviving the great binki fairy.

It's been a rough week in some sense, but a great relief on the other. She seems to have returned to her normal sleeping self. There have been a few bumps in the road, but for the most part, she handled it well. Eloise was cranky for the first few days, but snapped out of it pretty quick after day 3.

Now Lily, she may be an entirely different creature. Today she was asking for her binki all day. Ughh....I'm not looking forward to that one.

More posts on our week to come. We had a great time with our friend La La.

the great binki fairy

The binki fairy made my job so easy. I completely stole this idea off SuperNanny, so I really can't take any credit. Here's the timeline of events.

Walking out to the mailbox to get her special gift from the Binki Fairy

Getting it out of the mailbox

Heading to put all her binki's in the envelope. (it's 7 p.m. - of course we need shades)

Putting the binki's back in the mailbox

The next morning! We made it! Her special gift from the binki fairy.

The suspense is building, what did she bring.

It's a...

...Princess dress (She loves to dress up, so it's a big pretty dress to twirl in)

Tips and Tricks:
*Every kid is different and their love of binki's are too. Eloise used it only at naptime and nighttime. We weaned her early on of using it during the day (probably 9 months or so). But she did love to hold them. She always had 4 in her bed and made sure they were in her hands. This was what worried me the most. We made sure she had a sippy cup and a few other favorite comfort items close by.

*We talked about the binki fairy ALOT. So much that she started talking about when the binki fairy was going to come. We knew we had to jump on it or we would pass our window.

*I had to set my mindset to the fact that this was not only the breaking of a habit but a grieving process for her. That sounds TOTALLY cheesy, but it made me have ALOT of compassion for her when she was crying. She had this for 3 years! If I had something that long everytime I went to sleep, I would be sad too.

*Following the above, tenderness. When she cried, I made sure to say, "I know it's hard, but remember where the binki fairy took them, to all the babies". I kept reminding her that the binki fairy was coming in the morning with a special gift. We also did LOTS of cuddles.

*I knew it was going to take a LONG time for her to fall asleep the first night and I had to be okay with that. We tried to skip her nap that day, but she fell asleep. I would recommend skipping the nap. It made tonight, so much easier.

*the middle of the night was hard, but I let Dave deal with that ;)

*Prepare for the worst and hope for the best. It will only last a few days and then you will be back on track.

*She did ask for it at naptime, but we reminded her again where they went and she snapped out of it really quick. She didn't take a nap, just a rest so I'm eager to see when she'll nap again.

*remember: what works for some, may not work for the rest.

Good luck all you binki fairy's.

binki fairy

The Binki Fairy came to visit Eloise tonight.

So far, she is still awake and it's 10 p.m., but she's fading fast.

Her envelope arrived in the mail this evening. We put all the binki's in the envelope and walked it out to the mailbox. We then asked her who the binki fairy should give her binki's too. "All the babies".

She is eagerly awaiting a special gift in a big box upon waking.

Wish us luck.

why pee?

My girls have an obsession with water. Eloise would drink it by the gallon and Lily insists on it at every turn.

I believe that water is a great drink for kids. I never had juice growing up and I don't think it adds any nutritional value anyway. But I do understand that some kids would rather go into dehydration than drink a drop of water, so in that case, juice might be your next best option.

Eloise is potty trained, except for nighttime. Lily, well, I have no goal for potty training her, she will just do it. But this nighttime diaper thing is really starting to break me down.

This morning I go in to get Lily at 7 a.m. After cuddling her for a moment, I notice that the front of my bathrobe is wet. That's weird.

I walk over to her bed and feel around. She has peed through her jammies. Okay, I know the drill, let's just take off the sheets, jammies, and all the other pee items. Of course, as I'm trying to pry Lily's jammies off her, she's yelling, "Jammies On. Jammies On!". At this point Eloise isn't up, so I'm trying my best to keep her from screaming.

I change out of my pee drenched bathrobe and into my sweats. Lily is watching the Wiggles and I turn the coffee pot on. I figure I have another 1/2 hour before Eloise gets up.

Nope. She's awake.

When Eloise wakes up it goes something like this, (yelling) "MOM. CAN YOU GET ME SOME MILKY PLEASE?" This is the first thing this child says every morning.

I get her some milk and pull back the blankets. And what do my mommy eyes behold...PEE stained sheets and jammies. Are you kidding me? Again?

I get her out of bed, jammies and diaper off. Of course the entire time, she can't break her mouth away from the sippy cup making this process all that much more tedious.

I tear off the sheets and send her out to the couch. As I'm walking back out of the room I step on something wet and soak my feet. Gross. I left the diaper on the floor and I've just soaked my sweats and my foot.

It's not even 8 a.m. and I'm covered in pee.

One would think that I took a shower right away. No. This is normal. Doesn't phase me anymore. It happens about 2 times a week on average. I cleaned myself off best I could and headed straight for my coffee.

There really is nothing like motherhood to teach you humility and grace.

*note: I try hard not to give them water before bed and I need to buy the 'good' diapers to solve this problem.

the pumpkin patch

I've been blogging and helping out so much over here, I've forgotten to blog here.

A few weeks ago we made that run to my parents for my Grandmother's b-day.

One of the wonderful things I love about my parents is that they are creators and workers with their hands. They are frugal, innovative, and creative. I would call them organic, but they think that's just for hippies.

They have a farm where they raise cows and pigs, grow small trees and have a small garden and orchard on the side. My mom decided that she would put in small pumpkins this year.

Learning my frugality from her, I swooped up all her little pumpkins for kid projects and fall decorations.

My brother also inherited this 'create with your hands' philosophy from my parents. He grew the big pumpkins, so we stole some from him too. Viola! Free pumpkins.
The girls picked out their pumpkins while chasing the kitty's. Then my mom and I discovered an apple tree in the horse pasture. We quickly snagged up my 6 ft,5 nephew and made him climb the ladder. After fending off the horses we managed to come away with a healthy crop of apples for pies and applesauce. Of course Lily had to jump in on the action and eat. Eloise got to help my mom peel the apples with her fancy hand-crank machine.

(Eloise in her big girl panties, her usual attire)

I am so thankful that my parents taught me to create and make something out of nothing. They taught me to see value in the small things and it will help to create surplus when you need it. I appreciate that my girls can share in that too.

Tomatoes? Really?

I have tomatoes coming out my ears and apparently everyone I try to give them to, has the same problem.

So what am I to do with all of them?

I don't like tomatoes raw. I like them in Salsa or Spaghetti sauce, raw...NO WAY. I can't stand the smell and looking at all those juicy seeds...makes me queasy just thinking about it.

That is why I believe Lily may not be my child. I know I carried her for 9 months and gave birth to her, but she eats nothing like me (or her sister). She clears out entire bushes of blueberries, eats peas straight from the pod, and now, eats tomatoes like apples.

It makes me want to start vomiting when I watch her do it. She pulled one off a bush the other day and took a bite. She loved it, she kept eating.

Tonight, she caught site of them on the counter and practically flew out of my arms to get them. The whole time she is yelling, "Mato, Mato". I've never been more okay with my child spoiling her dinner. Which she didn't b/c she ate an entire bowl of mexican beans and rice with ground turkey. Where does she put it?

To prove her love for tomatoes, I took a picture.
What a cooky kid? And look at that grin.